Content

I received information from @caharvey2 that Baker and Taylor was supporting a coloring contest based on the book The Day the Crayons Quit written by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. I love this book and the different personalities of the crayons. I decided to run with the idea of creativity and emailed our staff to see if anyone would be interested in a lesson on creativity for their students. As always, the staff here jumped right on board and I have scheduled out several lessons in the next two weeks.

First, I prompted the students to take time to think about what the word creativity meant to them. Students paired and shared their thoughts, and then we came together as a whole group to share. We listed key ideas on the whiteboard. Next, I pulled up this video from Kid President (I LOVE HIM!!) and paused at different places to think, pair, and share about his ideas, who he consulted, and what he realized at the end of his catcuum experience. Our big takeaway was that ideas don’t always work out the way we want them to, but we “Gotta keep creating!”

After the video I read The Day the Crayons Quit and we focused on the author and illustrators creativity with personification, illustrations, and humor. The students then had time to create pictures like Duncan does in the story to help the crayons all feel a little bit better. The students did a gallery walk to observe student creations and then we voted on the top three by placing sticky notes on our favorite creative picture.

We ended the lesson by talking about how some people had more sticky notes than others, but just like Kid President, we “Gotta keep on creating!” Below you will see the top three choices in this particular class. I have 7 more lessons to do just like this one, although I am sure I will change things along the way because… I gotta keep creating!